Sony Xperia 2020 Battery Capacity Could Be A Whopper

31 Jan 2020, 17:58

Sony's Xperia 2020 battery capacity could put the currently unnamed flagship on the map.

The source, AndroidNext, has leaked a spec sheet for the upcoming device. In it, we see that the device, curiously named "Xperia 1 2020," features a 4,440mAh battery. If this report is true, the new Xperia flagship will have a serious battery upgrade over last year's 3,300mAh battery. This is the kind of battery life that will please Xperia users.

Xperia 2020 flagship specs

Apart from the incredible battery increase, the upcoming device could have a 4K display and a 6.6-inch display. The new Xperia will need the new large battery to power such a massive device. 4K displays are battery guzzlers and the 4,440mAh battery capacity may simply maintain the battery life of last year's Xperia 1. There's no way of knowing until the phone arrives on the market, however.

The new Xperia will feature Qualcomm's octa-core Snapdragon 865 SoC with 12GB of RAM, IP68 water and dust resistance, NFC, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. The Snapdragon 865 SoC is 5G-ready, so the Xperia 2020 flagship will also feature 5G cellular connectivity. As some of the earliest studies show, 5G cellular technology is also battery-guzzling and mandates a large battery. The Snapdragon 865 will also be responsible for maintaining the cool temperature of the device, since 5G causes overheating, too.

Other specs include a Time of Flight camera sensor, 12MP Ultra-Wide-Angle camera, 12MP telephoto camera, and either a 48MP or 64MP main camera. An 8MP selfie camera adorns the front of the device above the display. Triple rear camera setups are becoming the standard flagship camera design in Android.

Sony Xperia 2020 battery capacity emphasizes battery demand

Android OEMs over the years add more and more to smartphones, believing that more is better. There are more cameras now than ever before. Displays are larger than ever. Devices are thinner to hold than ever. Processors are beefier and more intense for hard-core tasks than ever. It seems as though the one thing OEMs are holding out on is large battery capacity.

Most OEMs only add about 300mAh or 400mAh (max) to their battery capacities each year. Sure, Sony's 3,300mAh battery was small last year, but to see the company add 1,140mAh of additional juice to this year's handset is commendable. It may not be the case that all OEMs can expand their batteries by this much, but there is some battery stinginess in Android that needs to improve. It's hard to justify buying a new flagship every year when the new one will only have 200mAh over the old one. No Qualcomm Snapdragon processor can compensate for small battery life, no matter how incredible the SoC may be.

When will Sony unveil the new Xperia 2020 flagship?

Sony could unveil the new 2020 flagship at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2020) next month. MWC is the first major global tech conference of the year. It's a good place for lesser-known OEMs to make a splash and cause some head-turning for profit. Sony makes excellent camera sensors but isn't so popular with its smartphones. The flagship series needs all the attention it can get. It doesn't get much better than MWC.